August 20, 2012
The NYT did a classic he said/she said on the debate between the presidential candidates over Medicare. While such coverage is easy for reporters it is not very helpful to readers who generally have less time than reporters to determine the truth of specific claims.
For example, it might have been helpful to point out to readers that the Romney-Ryan budget assumes $716 billion in unspecified cuts to Medicare over the next decade. These mystery cuts are due to the fact that they have promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and thereby get rid of the projected Medicare savings for which it provides. Nonetheless, the budget assumes that Medicare would cost the same as President Obama had projected with these cuts.
This means that Romney and Ryan must envision other cuts to the program over this period that they have yet to specify. That would have been useful information to provide readers.
Correction: A new blogpost from the Romney campaign indicates that, unlike the Ryan budget, he does not assume $716 billion in Medicare savings from the ACA. He would repeal the act and then start with a projected spending level that is $716 billion higher over the next decade than President Obama’s budget. Thanks to Robert Salzberg for catching this one.
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